Watford handed injury concern ahead of Leeds United trip amid fresh Whites blow

Watford defender Ryan Porteous is ‘50/50’ to face Leeds United tomorrow after limping off during Wednesday’s 2-2 home draw with West Brom.

The 24-year-old Scotland international had played every minute of the club’s Championship campaign until he was forced off in the 68th minute in midweek.

Ken Sema is expected to miss the Elland Road clash but Watford boss Valérien Ismaël says Porteous will be assessed on Friday before a decision is made on his involvement.

He said: “We will assess him in today’s training session. He didn’t train yesterday, he had just a recovery session. It was a little bit better when he woke up this morning. I can’t tell you anything at the minute, it’s 50/50.

“We have options, and if he cannot play then another player will get the chance. It’s a long season and we will need all the players. I always stay focussed on the players that are available to give confidence to players who step up when others are not available.

“We are a team and we can compete even when we are missing players. Sierralta is a centre-back, Jake Livermore can play that position, and then we have Pollock who came on the other night.

“When we picked the squad at the beginning of the season for sure on paper it is not the biggest squad. We don’t have 30, 35 players. But I like to play with a small size of squad and within that squad to have players who are able to play two or three positions. That helps you to keep the size of the squad like that.”

Meanwhile, Leeds have been dealt a fresh injury blow ahead of the Championship fixture with Willy Gnonto sidelined by an ankle injury picked up in the 0-0 draw with Hull City.

Manager Daniel Farke said: “Sadly bad news with him as he has done his lateral ankle ligament. We need to wait for the assessment on him to see how long he will be out but he will not be available tomorrow.”